Russia's most significant opposition leader, and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin - Alexei Navalny - is reported to have died in an Arctic Circle jail, aged 47.

In November 2023, a magma dike began to rapidly build below the Sundhnúkur crater chain in southwest Iceland.

Silicon Valley has long promoted a vision of a future tech utopia - be that on earth, or elsewhere.

Niuean-born Sir Collin Tukuitonga is highly regarded for his work in Pacific peoples' health, both in NZ and internationally. His big health interests are heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and the impact on health of the climate crisis. He recently resigned from his government advisory roles, citing no confidence, so he can "speak up and speak out" about the treatment of Pacific people. He joins Susie to share some of his favourite 70's and 80's hits, which he fears show his age!

Edible Backyard gardener Kath Irvine is evangelical about the benefits of homemade compost. It's tempting to just buy a bag, but she reckons making your own is the secret to a bountiful and healthy garden.

British food writer Bee Wilson's new book The Secret of Cooking also serves up secrets for stress-free living. Alongside recipes, there's encouragement to improvise, a very useful section on learning to cook by experimenting with a bag of carrots, and repurposing an unloved wedding ring. Bee cooked her way through divorce, rekindling her appetite for life. She's a campaigner for food education through the charity TastEd, and writes the "Table Talk" column for The Wall Street Journal.

It's twenty years this week since Facebook was launched. Last week its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was forced to apologise at a US Senate hearing, to parents whose children died following sexual exploitation via social media or cyberbullying. A matter of hours later his company Meta delivered its quarterly results with the stock price surging by over 20 percent, its value up almost 200 billion dollars. Meta owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads as well as Facebook. Arturo Bejar worked for the company between 2009 and 2015 and then again from 2019 to 2021. He came forward as a whistleblower, saying Instagram isn't doing enough to protect children from online harms.

What are the dangers for society when a perfect face and body - especially for women - are not just promoted, but also possible? Whether it's a 10 step skincare regime, cosmetic injections or plastic surgery, endless self improvement has been valourised and recoded as empowerment. South Korea is the undisputed leader in the quest for physical perfection, with a $US10 billion beauty industry. NPR's host-at-large and the presenter of TED Talks Daily, Elise Hu lived and worked in Seoul during the boom days of the K-beauty industry. Her new book is Flawless: Lessons In Looks And Culture From The K-Beauty Capital.

British naturalist, broadcaster and environmental campaigner Chris Packham has been hailed as David Attenborough's successor. He began his broadcasting career on The Really Wild Show in the 1980s, and more recently has presented Springwatch for the BBC. He's found fans and made enemies with his vocal stance on environmental and ecological causes including opposing fox hunting. Recently he launched a legal challenge against the UK government over its plan to water down carbon commitments.

Something of an all-round Renaissance man, Kiran Parbhu joins Susie to share some favourite songs. A fourth generation Kiwi of Indian ancestry, Kiran came to fame when Maori language advocate Matai Rangi Smith praised his fluency of Te Reo. Kiran was captaining Matai's Air New Zealand flight at the time. He posted about the encounter on Facebook, getting over 13,000 likes. Kiran also trains young people to become pilots. In his spare time he's a mural artist, photographer, woodworker and sportsman.